February 2, 2002 – Britney Spears (S27 E12)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

THE WOMEN’S DOWNHILL
Mormons (DAA) & (WIF) proselytize during Olympian’s (AMP) downhill run

— Ha, we get a random Dan Aykroyd appearance (who’s apparently there tonight to help tonight’s host, Britney Spears, promote her new movie Crossroads, as he plays her dad in it), being paired with Will as Mormons. Dan’s appearance in this cold opening is actually a last-minute addition. In dress rehearsal, Kattan played the role that Dan is playing here, but most (if not all) of Dan’s sketches got cut after this episode’s dress rehearsal, leaving him with little-to-nothing to do in the live show, so SNL threw him into Kattan’s role in this cold opening. I’m not 100% sure, but I also believe that in dress rehearsal, Britney Spears played the role that Amy’s playing in this cold opening, which probably means that this wasn’t the cold opening in dress (I can’t quite remember from the details I read long ago about this episode’s dress rehearsal).
— A pretty good laugh from the Mormons interrupting a skiier in the middle of an Olympic competition.
— Ehh, after the initial laughs from the aforementioned Mormon interruption, this doesn’t seem to have anywhere else to go, though it’s still passable enough.
— The Mormons telling Amy “Good luck in hell” as their parting message when Amy lets them know she doesn’t want to be a Mormon is pretty funny.
— I like Seth shoving Maya’s reporter character out of the way to bombard Amy with more Mormonism.
— Seth delivering a (solo) “Live from New York…” so early into his tenure as a featured player is a nice shock. SNL has been doing a great job of changing up the LFNYs these past two episodes, after an endless, tiring consecutive streak of episodes where Darrell and Will were the only cast members who got to deliver LFNY.
STARS: ***

MONOLOGUE
Justin Timberlake [real] learns he slept with host’s doppelganger (CHK)

— A good reveal after “Britney Spears”’ entrance that she’s actually Chris Kattan. Chris can now say that he’s posed onstage as both a certain musical guest and a certain host, at the beginning their musical performance/monologue: Ricky Martin in season 26 and Britney Spears tonight.
— After Chris’ comically bad dancing demonstration, I actually got an unintentional bigger laugh from Britney’s attempt to show Chris how it’s done. Britney’s supposedly “better” dancing was almost as terrible as Chris’. Back then in 2002, I remember SNL reviewing great Mark Polishuk describing Britney’s so-called dancing demonstration as being “one pole away from being a stripper’s gyration”.
— Much like in the Joshua Jackson episode from season 25, it still feels weird seeing N’Sync-era Justin Timberlake appearing on SNL.
— Another unintentional laugh, this time from how extremely early-2000s Justin’s shirt looks.
— It might just be me, but Justin’s coming off kinda bland here, which is surprising in retrospect. I’m not seeing any signs of the distinct comedic skills he would later surprise viewers with in his first hosting stint two seasons later.
— I got a laugh from Chris saying his personal life has been falling apart because Corky Romano didn’t do as well as he thought. Sadly, though, knowing some of the things I now know about Chris, I wouldn’t be surprised if he really did go through some issues in his personal life due to Corky Romano flopping.
STARS: **½

LOOSE BEAR
Rerun from 12/8/01

BRIAN FELLOW’S SAFARI PLANET
rabbit & donkey don’t cut their own hair

— After making its debut in the 10-to-1 slot several seasons prior, Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet has slowly made its way to the big post-monologue slot, where it would stay for most (if not all) of its subsequent installments during Tracy’s SNL tenure.
— As usual, Brian Fellow’s idiotic statements and snippiness crack me up.
— An interesting twist to these usual sketches, by showing a guest actually having the same thought bubble that Brian Fellow has.
STARS: ***½

INSIDE BARBIE’S DREAMHOUSE
Skipper (host) learns that she’s Barbie’s (AMP) daughter, not her sister

 

— An interesting premise that has potential.
— I like the mentions of the various famous dolls and action figures who are going to be at the party that Skipper wants to go to.
— Good reveal from Barbie that she and Skipper are actually mother and daughter instead of siblings.
— A big laugh from Barbie and Skipper demonstrating how their legs are double-jointed.
— Skipper, to Barbie, after being told her father is a Han Solo action figure: “He’s not even our scale! What kind of slut are you?!?”
— Nice detail with the stiff, doll-like hand movements Amy and Britney keep doing throughout this.
— (*groan*) Figures that Kattan would be the one who gets cast as a catty, effeminate Ken doll.
STARS: ****

JARRET’S ROOM
stoners Gobi (HOS) & Summer (host) make a perfect couple

— Jarret, to DJ Jonathan Feinstein: “If you’re from England, what’s the queen’s name?” DJ Jonathan Feinstein: “Latifah?”
— The first two or so minutes of these Jarret’s Room sketches are always kind of a write-off, as they just feature Horatio and Jimmy hamming it up, mugging straight into the camera, and cracking each other up (in other words, the usual nonsense whenever those two performers are paired together). These Jarret’s Room sketches don’t usually start getting fun until the host shows up, but I don’t see Britney as the kind of host who can add much to this sketch.
— Funny bit with Gobi and Britney’s character carrying on an entire conversation without either of them knowing what the other is saying.
— The spy cam footage of Jeff is worth some laughs, though it’s not as funny as the footage of him in the last Jarret’s Room installment.
— Overall, after a big upswing in quality with the last two Jarret’s Room sketches, we get the return of Jarret’s Room’s mediocrity tonight, though this installment wasn’t as bad as the ones from the preceding season. This had some decent moments here and there, but was lacking the infectiously fun feel of the last two installments.
STARS: **½

CAMP X-RAY
international critics misjudge edenic Camp X-Ray, says Dick Cheney (DAH)

— The premise of Camp X-Ray being glowingly advertised in the style of a tourism commercial is pretty funny, and the execution is okay, though nothing special.
STARS: ***

A MESSAGE FROM MARTHA STEWART
Martha Stewart (ANG) is rethinking her affiliation with bankrupt K-Mart

— A laugh from Ana’s Martha Stewart calling Ghostface Killah her very close friend. While it was intended as just a facetious line at the time, a real-life Martha Stewart/Ghostface Killah friendship would actually be far more believable nowadays, considering the hip-hop cred Martha has gained.
— Martha Stewart, to the bankrupt K-Mart: “If I had wanted to spend my life dragging a wounded, impotent beast around on my back, I would’ve stayed married.”
— Some pretty solid lines from Ana’s Martha towards the end of this sketch, but overall, this sketch was merely average, a step down from the usual strong sketches starring Ana’s Martha.
— This ends up being the final appearance of Ana’s Martha Stewart impression during Ana’s SNL tenure. This fantastic impression and all the great sketches she starred in over the years will be missed, though we do end up getting a guest appearance from Ana’s Martha in a season 29 cold opening.
STARS: ***

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman”

WEEKEND UPDATE
SEM awards a point to JIF for making a joke palindrome

Geraldo Rivera (DAH) claims to have found Osama bin Laden in Somalia

JIF plays guitar & sings pop-inspired songs about the Winter Olympics

Gay Hitler speedskates as Neil Diamond (WIF) performs “America”

— Yeesh, Jimmy’s hair is looking particularly bad tonight.
— I love the randomness of Seth popping up from below to award a point to Jimmy for a joke palindrome.
— The debut of Darrell’s Geraldo Rivera impression, which is spot-on and pretty funny. He’s having a good amount of funny lines in tonight’s Update commentary.
— The usual okay-but-nothing-special guitar song medley from Jimmy. I do kinda like his spoof of Ludacris’ “Rollout”, though.
— Always great to get an Update walk-on from Will’s Neil Diamond.
— Neil Diamond: “You bet your balls it’s Neil Diamond.”
— Hmm, “Gay Speedskating Hitler” (which won’t make sense to any viewers who didn’t see the original Gay Hitler bit from earlier this season). Well, I see once again tonight that Kattan’s hard at work quashing those gay rumors about himself.
— Interesting and kinda fun how, as Neil Diamond’s musical number is closing out this Update, the Update guests from earlier tonight return in the background.
STARS: ***½

ASTRONAUT JONES
sci-fi romp is a vanity project for its star

— This sketch makes its debut.
— A pretty big night for Tracy, between him getting to do both Brian Fellow AND Astronaut Jones, both of whom would go on to be his two biggest signature recurring characters.
— Man, that is one epic theme song and opening credits sequence. Outstanding.
— Tracy’s one-word utterances in between each sentence of Britney’s long speech are hilarious.
— Tracy, after Britney’s speech ends: “Well, why don’t you jump outta that green jumpsuit and show me that fat ass?!?” I also love how, immediately after that line, this episode of Astronaut Jones ends, and you then realize that the opening title sequence was humorously longer than the episode itself was.
— Hilarious ending credits.
— Overall, an absolutely perfect Tracy Morgan sketch. I’ve always had very mixed feelings about them later turning this into a recurring sketch, but I’ll try to go into those subsequent installments with an open mind in this SNL project of mine.
STARS: *****

HBO FIRST LOOK
Gemini’s Twin & latest member (host) in hip-hop epic film

— This ends up being the final Gemini’s Twin sketch. (Quite a lot of recurring Ana Gasteyer pieces are being retired tonight.) Can’t say I’ll miss this recurring sketch, though I enjoyed the first few installments.
— A laugh from the title of Gemini’s Twin’s movie: Damn, My Dixie’s On Fire.
— I love Will’s spot-on look as a typical hip-hop producer.
— Will is getting his usual big laughs even in the smallest of roles. He especially got a good audience response from unnaturally pronouncing “asked” as “axed”, in a poor attempt from his character to sound “street”.
— I see ONCE AGAIN tonight that Kattan’s hard at work quashing those gay rumors about himself. My god, has he played a gay role in EVERY SINGLE SKETCH that he’s appeared in tonight? (Note: I’m only vaguely familiar with the real Brian Grazer and I can’t remember if he’s gay or not, but Kattan is playing him in a very effeminate, flamboyant way in this sketch.) Plus, there was the whole monologue earlier tonight. Jesus Christ, this is getting insane.
— Pretty funny line about Britney’s character playing a runaway slave named Ungawa, because Maya’s (black) character refused to do it.
— When Gemini’s Twin has stripped down to more revealing outfits for their big musical number, Ana’s real-life pregnancy is quite visible here. There had been public confirmation of her pregnancy sometime not too long before this episode’s original airing, which was a huge deal at the time, as she was the very first cast member in SNL history to be pregnant during their SNL tenure.
— I like how the HBO First Look format is changing up a lot of things in the Gemini’s Twin formula.
— Ana’s violin solo during the Gemini’s Twin musical number is very funny.
— Overall, this actually wasn’t bad. Better than the last two Gemini’s Twin installments, and a pretty good way for this recurring sketch to go out.
STARS: ***

9 NEWS MORNING EDITION
technical problems vex anchors (WIF) & (ANG) during morning news program

— Ana has been getting a lot of airtime tonight, which is very refreshing, considering how underutilized and clearly-on-her-way-out she’s been in a lot of this season’s episodes.
— Already a laugh right from the beginning, with the visibly obvious lack of chairs for Will and Ana.
— Ah, this is one of those everything-goes-wrong-during-a-TV-broadcast sketch, the type of sketch I’m always a sucker for.
— Funny visual of Ana chomping into a huge hoagie when she thinks she’s off-camera.
— I like Will’s perfectly Will Ferrell-esque delivery of “God, that’s a stinky dog! That is a stinky dog!”
STARS: ****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host performs “Boys”

THE LEATHER MAN
The Leather Man (JIF) sells squeaky animal-skin attire to (host)

— Oh, god, a SECOND Fallon & Sanz sketch tonight?
— I can already tell from the leather store setting that I’m not going to be crazy about this sketch, nor this character of Jimmy’s. Regarding the latter, this feels like a character more suitable for someone like Will, who could easily wring laughs out of a role like this in his sleep.
— Tom Davis is credited during the goodnights of tonight’s episode as guest writing a sketch. I really hope THIS isn’t the sketch he guest wrote, but I think it is, as Tom is also credited as a guest writer in the following season’s Brittany Murphy episode, which just so happens to contain another Leather Man sketch. (Come to think of it, the Brittany Murphy episode also contains two other recurring sketches from tonight’s episode: Jarret’s Room and Astronaut Jones, though regarding the former, Tom Davis obviously has nothing to do with the writing of those, and I certainly can’t see him writing the latter, either.)
— Okay, I am chuckling at the initial leather sound effects when Jimmy starts walking around, but those sound effects seem like they’re going to get old after a while.
— Of course, Jimmy IMMEDIATELY starts smirking when Horatio first comes waddling onscreen.
— A pretty funny walk-on from Dan Aykroyd in that ridiculous leather outfit. I can’t remember if I heard that his appearance in this sketch was also a last-minute addition after dress rehearsal, like his appearance in the cold opening.
— The running gag with Jimmy making Horatio scream by hitting him with a whip is clearly just an excuse to get Jimmy cracking up.
— A good laugh from Horatio’s naughty actions inside the dressing room.
— There’s Ana once again tonight.
— Back-to-school shopping in FEBRUARY???
— Pretty funny ending with Will, Ana, and their kids stealing clothes when they’re left alone in the store.
STARS: **½

GOODNIGHTS

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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A decent episode overall. The quality was a little all over the place, but even at its worst, the show never really bottomed out, and there was definitely more good than bad.

MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS

HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jack Black)
a slight step down

My full set of screencaps for this episode is here

TOMORROW
Jonny Moseley. We also get SNL pulling a very rare move and rehiring a certain recently-fired cast member.